Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Fighting to the End

Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Fighting to the End

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost last night, which in the grand scheme of the season won’t matter much, but the team also fought like hell to a win a “meaningless game” from their perspective. The Pirates deserve a lot of credit for fighting down the stretch, even after the team was eliminated from playoff contention.

Obviously, the Pirates are paid professionals, so they should give full effort for all 162 games. However, the team could have easily limped to the finish and accepted a losing season. It seems the team is really doing their best to finish above .500. That number is not hollow for Pirates fans and I will personally feel happy knowing the Pirates have ended their losing seasons streak at two.

I think every Pittsburgh baseball fan still has leftover angst from the 20 years of losing. It’s hard not to feel nervous when the team is spiraling and heading towards a losing season. The Pirates have done a good job of trying to at least secure a winning season and while that is never the goal, it will feel good to finish with a winning record.

The Pirates still have some work to do, but they’re close to doing something only three other Pirates teams have done since 1992.

The game last night wasn’t the only disappointing news for Pirates fans as it was revealed that RHP Edgar Santana is going to have Tommy John Surgery. He will miss the entire 2019 season. The bullpen has been a great area of strength for the Pirates and this definitely weakens the 2019 bullpen.

Santana has put together a very good season for the Pirates. He’s appeared in 69 games and put up a 3.26ERA. Recently, however, Santana has been dreadful and it seems that he was pitching through a fairly serious arm injury. This likely explains why he put up a 5.14ERA over his last 15 appearances.

The 2019 season is lost for Santana, but hopefully his surgery goes well and he returns stronger than ever to help the 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates.